Trip to the Island.

Summer is almost over, school starts next week and my husband has a vacation this week so we try to go as much as we can, enjoy long days by the water. Yesterday we spend a day at the Toronto Island. Its a short trip in a streetcar and then a 5 minutes ferry ride to the island.

 

Bread crumbs.

The weekend was really busy, Saturday I had a Craft Show and yesterday was catching up with house work. In between cleaning I made more bread crumbs.

 

Baking.

My recipe testing continues, this time on the sweet side.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¾ cup sugar

1 egg

¼ cup buttermilk

1 ½ cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 3-inch pan and dust with flour

In a medium bowl whisk together 1 ½ cup flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and allspice.

In another bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until combined.

Add the flower and buttermilk in alternating batches, beginning and ending with the flour.

 Beat until combined, the batter will be very stiff.

In a medium bowl toss the blueberries with some flour and fold them in the butter.

Pour into the pan and sprinkle evenly with the streusel topping.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until golden brown.

Streusel Topping

1 cup flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

In a bowl mix the flour, sugar and salt. Using your fingers, work in the butter until large moist crumbs form.

Picture from the book:

And my cake:

 

More basil.

Last week I cut some herbs and put them in a water so they can generate roots and today I planted 3 new basil plants.

 

Canning.2.

Some time ago I made garlic pesto and freezer strawberry jam and completely forgot about the pictures. This is my first garlic pesto from a recipe I found on Soule Mama blog and it came out delicious.

 

Canning.

On the weekend I was able to make my first relish and ketchup. Can't wait till I can try it.

 

In my Garden.

Big changes happened in my garden, all cucumbers and beans are gone. Now in its place I put new beans, radish, beets and kale. I also put in a slice of tomato in a spare container, I will see what happens. 

 I'm making more plants; rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano.

 New beans, radish and beets.

More beans. 

 New green onion is growing really well.

 Squash is blooming. 

In place of potatoes I put in sweet potatoes. I found one that was sprouting but it was going bad so we wouldn't eat it and now I have more green on my balcony.

My strawberries are blooming again.

Lettuce seeds. 

 

Beans.

It's time for beans, yesterday I froze 6 bags of yellow beans and 4 bags of green beans. I use them in stews and soups. 
Boil the beans for few minutes then put them in cold water, dry, cut and freeze.

 

Reading.

In summer there is always more books flowing around just because we have more time to read. We take books with us everywhere we go and even though we can't read on the bus or streetcar or subway (we get sick) there is always the time when we wait for a bus or when we get to the beach or we are just waiting for other people. I explain to my kids that even if you read one page it's one page ahead in the story and that much closed to finishing the book.

 

Drying herbs.

I love dry herbs in winter months, I use them in every meal, they add wonderful taste to whatever I'm cooking. This year I would like to give some dry herbs from my garden as a Christmas gifts so I made sure to plant more then usual. There is few ways to dry herbs; you can use the oven or the dehydrator but I hang my herbs to dry. First I wash them and spread them on a tea towel so it can dry and then I hand them, 2-3 branches together, in my kitchen where is warm but dry.